The Land of Chima
by TRikiD
Summary: Advanced. Civilized. Two words that describe the animals that dwell in the land of Chima. Peace has been kept for many generations...but one small mistake creates a war filled with hatred and revenge, even against friends.
1. Chapter 1 - When We were Kids

**Ok, so I went back and edited the story AGAIN! So, there should be better grammar and less typos(hopefully).**

* * *

The Land of Chima

Chapter 1 - When We were Kids

The sun was barely visible in the sand storm over a vast desert, as a feline creature walked alone over the burning sand.

It was a lion, a large male with a big, proud mane, and yet he walked with no pride. Sand with that thought, he suddenly he stopped, just when he was about to put another one of his massive paws in front of the other; he looked behind him and growled.

Even though he still couldn't see anything, no matter what direction he could've looked in, there was one place he could never forget.

* * *

Inside a deep, dark, humid swamp, there were two little animals playing. One was a male lion cub, and the other a male crocodile hatchling, who was blind in his left eye with a scar to prove it; each were wearing a piece of cloth around their waist as they play-fought with each other and growled, but they didn't know that danger was coming.

Lurking within the murky swamps was a large, adult male crocodile, and he stealthily swam towards the hatchling and the cub. When the large reptile made it to shore, he crept up to the two young ones, and when they noticed him, they stopped playing and huddled together as they trembled in fear.

The adult crocodile bared his teeth and glared, but then he suddenly stood up on his hind legs, like a human, and appeared to be wearing golden attire fit for a king; though his body was covered in dark green scales, his arms and torso were shaped like a human's, and he even had five-fingered hands…just with dangerously long and sharp claws.

"Prince Cragger, I told you and Prince Laval that you could play as long as you didn't go past the Bellow Plants," the crocodile said in a deep voice, and then the two young animals also stood up on their hind legs and put their arms behind their backs and hung their heads in shame.

"Sorry, Pop," the hatchling crocodile, Cragger, apologized as his short, leathery tail drooped.

"Yeah, sorry, King Crominus, Sir," the young lion cub, Laval, also apologized as his short, furry tail retreated between his legs.

The large crocodile, or better known as King Crominus, smiled and tapped the tip of his long, wrinkled tail a few times in the mud in amusement.

"It's alright, you two. You're both young and still learning, and I know that someday, you'll both live up to your fathers' dream to being the next rulers of your tribes," Crominus said as he scooped Laval and Cragger up in his claws, making the two youngsters wag their tails.

"Uh-huh, I'm gonna be the crocodile king, just like you, Dad," Cragger said playfully, and then he looked across his father's huge, scaly chest, that was barely visible under all of the gold chains and chest plates he wore, and smiled at Laval, "how about you, Laval? Will you be the next Lion King when you grow up?"

"Only if you promise that we'll still be best friends by then," Laval said with a smile.

"Deal," Cragger said, and Crominus chuckled.

"You know, you two, I don't think ANYTHING will ever tear your friendship apart," Crominus said calmly.

* * *

 **10 years later…**

At the edge of a forest was a beautiful lake, and jutting out into the lake was a small piece of land with a large rock sitting upright, with a cherry blossom tree growing up and around it, pink and white petals in bloom. The beautiful landmark was known as the Forever Rock.

Little Cragger had grown up a bit, as he was no longer a hatchling, but rather a tall young adult crocodile, with his tail much longer, and he wore a bit more gold and clothing, but not as much or as fancy as his father, King Crominus, current ruler of the Crocodiles; though, the pale scar still remained over Cragger's left eye, he'd grown up to look a lot like his dad.

Cragger hid behind a tree, just waiting for his best friend Laval when he wasn't looking as he walked by the Forever Rock.

Now, like Cragger, Laval had aged too. He was tall, his tail was longer, and a flowing red mane grew on his head.

"Cragger? Cragger!" Laval called, and his voice was very naval now, as well.

Suddenly, Cragger pounced out from his hiding spot and pinned down Laval by sitting on him.

"Cragger, this is Hide and Seek, not Hide and Attack. You're not playing by the rules, again," Laval grunted while trying to get back up, but to no avail.

"And you're LISTENING to the rules, again. Why not try and improvise for once? You lions are always so busy following the rules that you never actually disobey them," Cragger protested with a smirk.

"Oh, sure we do. In fact, there's one rule in this game we made to 'improvise'," said Laval.

"Really? What rule?" asked Cragger.

"I think you'll find it to be quite familiar; it's the 'Banana on the Crocodile's Tail' rule," Laval replied with a grin.

"Uh-oh," Cragger whimpered with realization as he lifted his tail to find that a banana was pinned to the tip of it, and he was just about to get up when a gorilla humanoid, who was hanging upside down from and overhead tree branch, came down and grabbed Cragger by his tail, picking him up off of Laval.

"Hey, thanks for the free munchies, Dudes," the gorilla said in a deep, mellow voice; he had dark blue flower face paint of his primate face, and he also wore a blue kilt with a leather belt.

"No, thank YOU, Gorzan. I can always count on you to put Cragger in his place," Laval said as he got up and dusted himself off.

"Very clever, Laval, but I'll get you back, eventually," Cragger growled as Gorzan put him down, and he climbed down the tree while eating the banana.

Suddenly an eagle's cry was heard from above, and the boys looked up to find an eagle and a raven humanoid descending towards them.

The eagle was all white, with eagle claws for hands and bipedal legs; she wore golden plates for clothes all around her waist and torso, and she had a pair of large, white, feathered wings placed on her back.

The raven was also a young adult, like the rest of the boys and the eagle; she was covered in beautiful, shiny, pitch black feathers; she had dark talons for her feet and five-fingered clawed hands, and she wore dark purple armor, as a large pair of black wings were placed on her back.

"Eris, Raiva, hey!" Laval called up to the eagle, Eris, and the raven, Raiva, and the female bird-humanoids, as they soon swooped down and landed.

"Gee, Laval, you found two at once; you're pretty good at this game," Eris complimented.

"Actually, I found three. I found Rogon before I even found Cragger or Gorzan," Laval said as he pointed to a rustling bush, and out popped a rhino humanoid with an old, grey cloth with a belt around his waist, and he seemed to have a large crack down the large horn on his nose.

"I just can't resist hiding from the 'Banana on the Crocodile's Tail' trick, it's just too funny," Rogon said in a voice that was a combination between Laval's naval voice and Gorzan's deep voice, but then his laughter died, "I still don't get it, though."

"Why wouldn't you girls ever play?" Laval questioned.

"Where do you think we're gonna hide these big wings?" Raiva scoffed as she and Eris gently fluttered their wings.

"True, true, but did you bring Skinnet? I still have to find Worriz," Laval sighed.

"Yup," Eris said as she looked into the jungle and out popped a short skunk humanoid, "so you might wanna hold your nose. Skinnet, do your thing." With that, Eris and the others all held their noses, and Skinnet pointed away from his friends, lifted his tail and he spayed his skunk stench.

Suddenly a wolf humanoid popped out from behind a bush while howling in pain and desperately holding his nose; he was wearing old brown cotton for pants, as he was coughing and tried to withstand Skinnet's horrible stench.

"Ugh, Laval, you know us wolves have very sensitive noses; that was a terrible way to cheat!" Worriz growled and bared his fangs.

"Sorry about that," Skinnet said innocently and finally left.

"Huh, and you say that I don't play fair," Cragger stated, getting a laugh from everyone.

* * *

A while later, Cragger and Laval were together in the jungle, fighting in an epic wooden sword duel.

"Ah, the alliance between the crocodiles and the lions is broken; we are stuck in an eternal war!" Cragger shouted, and then he and Laval laughed.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you know what else is broken?" Laval asked as he threw his sword up at a beehive that Cragger was standing under, and he knocked it down and caused it to land on Cragger's face and blocked his vision.

"Better hurry up and get that off before the honey makes it 'stuck eternally' on your face, Cragger!" Laval jokingly warned.

"Oh, will you shut up and just get this thing off me?!" Cragger growled. Laval was just about to pull the huge hive off Cragger's face when a brown bear humanoid, wearing an old, brown, leather kilt and some leather straps across his chest, came up and suddenly took the hive for himself…and he seemed to be sleep-walking.

Laval and Cragger only followed the bear quietly for a few minutes before he fell to the ground and cuddled the hive, and he began to snore loudly.

"Question: Other than food, what wakes up a bear?" Cragger asked sarcaatically.

"Whispering, watch," Laval replied and suddenly leaned down to the bear's ear, "Bladvic, the forest is on fire."

And with a dramatic whisper, Bladvic suddenly woke up screaming.

"Fire?! Where?!" Bladvic exclaimed, and then he noticed a snickering Laval and Cragger, "aw jeez, guys, can't I get some sleep without so much noise for once?" Bladvic sighed and immediately went back to sleep, only making the lion and crocodile burst out laughing.

* * *

As the sun was setting, Cragger and Laval were finally relaxing against the Forever Rock, basking in the warm sunlight and listening to the early crickets chirp.

"Hey, Laval, who's you bestest best friend?" Cragger asked with a smirk.

"That's a rhetorical question, and I have a rhetorical answer for that: You're my best friend," Laval replied with a grin.

"Vice versa, here. And like my dad said, we'll never not be friends, right?"

"Of course not." And with that notion, the boys both sighed and leaned back against the Forever Rock.

…

"Oh, I just remembered that I have something fun I've been wanting to try! You wanna come with me?" Cragger asked with excitement while quickly getting up on his feet.

"Hmm…alright, I'll bite. What are we doing?" Laval asked out of curiosity, as he stood up and followed the crocodile.

"You'll see."

* * *

 **I added my OC Raiva because the Raven Tribe is my favorite tribe, and Razar is myfavorite character...which is also why Raiva is his love interest. Hey, ya learn somethin' new everyday, right?**

 **I'm also going back and re-editing every chapter to fix any grammar mistakes. It may take me a while, but I'll get it done, and I'll try to update a bit too.**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Forever Marks

Chapter 2 - Forever Marks

Inside a large mountain was the grand home of the lions: the Lion Temple. The lions of the prideful Lion Tribe were the ones responsible for watching over Chima's most prized possession: Chi. But another amazing sight was a piece of land that was floating above the temple; that land was known as Mount Cavora, a mighty floating mountain with rocks carved into the faces of each of the eight main animal tribes in the land: lions, eagles, crocodiles, wolves, ravens, gorillas, rhinos, and bears, as flowing waterfalls spilled from the mouths of the eight faces.

And the best way to view the mountain and the Lion Temple was from the air, and Eris could vouch for that; the said eagle loved to fly around Mount Cavora over the past few years.

But one afternoon, as Eris was flying peacefully over the jungle, her peaceful flight was abruptly put to an end.

She let out a cry of terror when a net suddenly came flying out of the jungle below, and wrapped itself around her, sending her plummeting down to the jungle floor; it was only because of air resistance that Eris landed safely without getting fatally injured…much. But the falling wasn't the biggest surprise when Eris landed right in the middle of those who caught her: the crocodile, wolf and raven tribes, all three fleets being lead by Cragger.

"Cragger?! What are you doing?!" Eris questioned with fear at the said crocodile, and she was trying to escape the net, but to no avail.

"Me? Oh, I'm just about to attack the lions, steal them blind, and avenge my parents. Why? What about you? What's up?" Cragger asked sarcastically with an evil grin, and his gnarly, crooked teeth in his elongated jaws were showing to intimidate Eris, but that wasn't the only thing; something was different…Cragger's eyes suddenly turned blood red, with a matching aura to follow.

"I'm begging you to please have mercy before you cause anymore damage!"

"Hmm, about that…" Cragger said as he fitted golden battle helmet on his head, and he also pointed to the one person in all of Chima that Eris never expected to see helping this fleet.

"Raiva?! What are you doing?! We're best friends!" Eris cried out to the raven, who had also matured into a young woman, and the said raven was helping to guide her raven tribe. At first, Raiva didn't reply, she only stopped in her tracks; after a few awkward moment, Raiva finally turned to the eagle, and she glared…as her eyes were glowing red, just like Cragger's.

"We were NEVER friends," Raiva growled, and she jerked her head away to continue on with guiding Cragger's forces.

"Ooh, I just love it when you're such a bad girl, my princess," Razar cooed evilly; Razar was the prince of the raven tribe, who had a silver hook for his left hand and deep claw marks on his beak, and he had admired Raiva for many years, as she and him had always been close, maybe not as close as she was to Eris, but now that his princess' heart was filled with evil, he loved her even more.

And Eris was horrified, especially when two more ravens came and dragged her, tying her to the back of one of large vehicle while she was still trapped in the net.

* * *

But while the lions were completely unaware of Cragger's attempt of an attack on their temple, it was the Age of Becoming for Laval, as he was zipping around his room with worry because he knew he was late for his ceremony.

"Oh, I'm so late…where is that damn harness?!" Laval growled with aggravation as he opened his wardrobe doors to see if his missing possession was in there…but it wasn't; instead, the young adult male lion was greeted by a wooden dummy with a dopey painted-on face.

"Sir Punch-A-Lot? Now's really not the time for some punching…but you know I can't resist," Laval chuckled with a grin, and he gave in and started punching and kicking the dummy that just never went down. But after a few more seconds, Laval suddenly remembered the ceremony.

"Now I'm REALLY late! Where is that stupid set of armor?" Laval once again asked himself, but then he had the urge to look in the last place he looked: under his bed. And there, he finally found his armor for the ceremony, so he finally sprinted out of his room with it.

Laval then headed to the largest and most important room in the entire temple, maybe even in all of Chima; it was where the Chi pool is embedded in what is also Laval's father's, King Lagravis, throne room.

The said current ruler of the lion tribe was a rather old lion; there were age wrinkles around his bright green eyes, and even his main had turned light grey over the years.

But right now, Laval was trying to sneak in without being noticed, as he was also struggling to put on his golden harness for the ceremony.

"Glad you could make it on time—for the most important moment of your life," Laval's father chuckled.

"Sorry, Dad…this…thing slipped my mind at first," Laval sighed in defeat as he was still trying to put the armor on correctly, so Lagravis had to help him.

"Reaching the Age of Becoming is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Son."

"I know, Dad."

"Today is the day you stop acting like a cub…"

"I'm well aware of that too, Dad."

"You will mature one day where you will become a great warrior, and it will be your place to lead this entire tribe of lions," Lagravis said with pride as he referred to the large tribe of civilized lions and lionesses, in hopes that one day his son would take that honor in leading them too.

"I…I'll make you proud, Dad." With that, Laval and his father stepped forward towards the Chi Pool, in which Lagravis carefully scooped out a Chi Orb; Chi Orbs had to be the most beautiful sight in the land; they were crytalized spheres that had the most awe-inspiring white glow emitting from inside it, along with a bright, light blue aura to engulf it.

As Lagravis carried the orb to Laval, the young lion stared in awe at the object in his father's paws, and he couldn't wait to take it into his own.

"My son, Laval, for the first time, you shall take an orb of Chi, place it in your chest, and feel the power of Mother Nature herself, the almighty life force of Chi."

Laval then accomplished his dream: obtaining a Chi Orb for himself, as he stared in wonder at the orb in his claws.

"So awesome…I-I mean…for Chima!" Laval shouted with pride, and the rest of the lion tribe cheered and roared for him, especially as Laval was just about to place the orb of Chi into his chest…but that was when the least expected happened.

There was a huge crash that erupted from outside the temple, sending a majority of the tribe either into panic or attack mode, and the impact even made Laval accidentally drop his Chi, and he was now panicking to get it back amidst the chaos.

But while Laval was busy, Lagravis was the first to sprint out of the temple to see what the trouble was about.

"It's all three of them: crocodiles, wolves, AND the ravens! They're attacking all at once!" Leonadis, a young lion with a bright orange mane, called down from a basilica outside the temple walls, before a few ravens suddenly flew in and grabbed him up by his limbs with their claws, tearing and ripping them and even spilling some blood. But it was only a matter of time before the ravens either realized the lion was too heavy, or that they that they didn't want to have to deal with him later.

So, when Leonadis fought to get loose from their grip, they purposely dropped him, and right in the middle of the battle between the tribes. It was then the end for Leonadis when he landed, breaking nearly every bone in his body, and he was even run over and squashed by the crocodiles' and wolves' tanks.

Meanwhile, Laval was still struggling to get his Chi Orb back, and it was only going to get more difficult as crocs and wolves started pouring into the temple, making it harder for Laval to keep track of his Chi.

But his hunt for his orb soon ended when a set of crocodile claws stepped on the orb to stop it from rolling; the one who then scooped up Laval's Chi was Cragger, but he didn't recognize him with the golden battle helmet.

"Hey! Who are you?!" Laval shouted, but Cragger didn't reply as he only stuffed Laval's Chi into his satchel, and then started scooping a couple more orbs of Chi into it, which infuriated Laval, "STOP! PUT THAT BACK AND GIVE ME MY CHI!"

But no matter how loud Laval roared, Cragger didn't listen, and the croc only sprinted out of the Lion Temple, quickly pushing through the fighting tribes to get to his Speedor.

Speedorz were a rather common and fun vehicle in Chima; they were like four-wheelers…except with only one giant wheel with some kind of electrical power souce in them, and most like to shape or paint their speedors into their own species. So of course, Cragger's speedor looked a lot like him, as the said croc jumped onto his Speedor, and sped off deep into the jungle.

But Laval wasn't going to give up so easily, as he sprinted out of the throne room, and into his secret hiding spot for his lion head-shaped, red and yellow-painted Speedor that he kept hidden behind a remote cave behind a waterfall.

Once the lion prince reached his Speedor, he immediately revved it up, and went speeding through the battle and into the jungle after the thief.

But when Laval rode deep into the jungle, he saw no croc on a Speedor at first.

"Hmm, let's see…rock, rock, tree, tree, tree, plant, mushroom…and a croc! Get back here!" Laval yelled when he saw the croc speeding out from behind the thick trunk of a tree, and the young lion went riding after the croc again.

But Laval really didn't think it through as to how he was actually going to stop Cragger, so he just continued to accelerate towards him, until he just crashed into him, both veering off the edge of a tall cliff.

Luckily, it wasn't a deadly fall, as the two landed down on none other than the Forever Rock. When Laval shook the dizziness from his head and saw the thief leaning helplessly against the Forever Rock, he growled and he grabbed out his sword. He was then ready and willing to strike.

"Give up, thief," Laval threatened, but that was when the golden helmet slipped off from the impact, revealing Cragger's face, and Laval gasped in shock, "Cragger…it was you? But why?"

Cragger was so dizzy from the fall that he only sighed and grunted in pain, collapsed onto his side, and revealing something that caught Laval's eye; it was a set of deep claw marks in the Forever Rock…and that's when Laval remembered.

He remembered when they were kids…

* * *

 **Three years earlier…**

At the base of the mountain of the Lion Temple, young Cragger and Laval approached a hidden growth of vines that climbed all the way up to a secret way to get inside the temple.

"Uh, what are we doing here?" Laval asked with worry, but Cragger ignored him as he looked around to see if anyone was near.

"We're going to sneak into the temple, and take a 'peek' at the Chi Pool," Cragger whispered with a smirk.

"WHAT?!"

"Shush!"

"Are you crazy? Do you know how much trouble we'd get into if we get caught? We're not even supposed to THINK about going near the Chi Pool until we're at the Age of Becoming," Laval whispered frantically.

"I know, I know, but we're not going to take any Chi," Cragger explained while avoiding looking into Laval's eyes, "like I said: we're only taking a peek. Don't you at least want to see some Chi?"

"Well…" Laval wondered.

"C'mon, you know you want to," Cragger chuckled darkly, "I'm going with or without you, but I'd prefer to remember this with my best friend."

"You make a good point there…fine, I'll go. Last one there is a rotten crocodile egg!" Laval laughed as he grabbed a vine and quickly began climbing, Cragger climbing close beside him.

"Oh, that's funny and real mature…that was kind of offensive, Laval, and you know it," Cragger growled sarcastically.

"Oh, shut your long face and keep climbing."

* * *

The heart of the temple was, of course, the Chi Pool; it was inside a very large room with the large and beautiful pool in the middle, and over looking the pool was a throne; the throne where the king of the lion tribe would sit. But the only ones in the whole room was a couple of lion guards, who were currently finishing their patrol around the throne room, as Laval and Cragger snuck in as they were finishing up.

They crept their way towards the pool; Cragger wearing an excited smile while Laval looked nervous.

"Oh, I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach," Laval whimpered while frantically looking around for his dad or any guards.

"Just shut up and look," Cragger hissed while looking down into the beautiful, glowing waters and leaned down as he reach for an orb.

"C-Cragger, what are you doing?" Laval stammered with shock, but Cragger didn't say anything as he pulled out a Chi orb from the water; the orb looked like it was made of glass as a white glow emitted from its center.

Cragger's smile soon grew even bigger, but Laval was horrified.

"Cragger, you said we were only LOOKING!"

"I know what I said—but have you ever wondered what it feels like?" Cragger asked slyly as he lifted the Chi orb closer to his chest. Laval's eyes widened as Cragger imputed the Chi orb into his chest.

Suddenly, a blood red aura outlined Cragger's body, and the teen crocodile reared his head back and roared while baring his claws and teeth.

"Halt!" a lion guard yelled with a few other guards following him to stop Cragger.

"No, wait, it was an accident!" Laval cut in, but then Cragger growled and rammed through all of the guards and ran out of the temple in a panic.

"Laval, my son, what happened?!" an elderly lion with a grey main roared as he ran into the room.

"Dad, I'm sorry, it was acci-!"

"No time for your apologies, Son! We have to catch Cragger before he hurts anyone else—or himself," Lagravis demanded firmly.

Meanwhile, Cragger couldn't control himself as he acted like a real wild animal; he snarled, his fangs and claws were out, and he went sprinting through the jungle and stopped for nothing and no one.

And inside the jungle, Raiva and Eris were having a nice stroll, completely unaware that Cragger was quickly catching up.

"So, how are things between you and Razar?" Eris asked with a smirk, and Raiva's blush would have been visible if it weren't for the black feathers on her face.

"W-well…he can be greedy and selfish a lot, but…I know he has a heart, I can feel it," Raiva replied sheepishly.

"And who knows? Maybe that raven prince will ask you to be his princess one day," Eris suggested, almost matter-of-factly.

But that was just when Cragger came sprinting through, nearly ramming through Raiva and Eris if they hadn't opened their wings to jump over and dodge Cragger in the nick of time.

"Was that…Cragger?" Raiva asked with confusion, and that's when Laval came speeding through on his Speedor, trying to catch up with Cragger.

"That's Cragger, alright; he plugged a Chi Orb!" Laval explained with worry, as Eris and Raiva took off and flew after him too.

"What?! Why would you let him do that?!" Eris panicked.

"I-I didn't know he was actually going to try it out! He told me we were only gonna look!"

"Laval, you should know by now that Cragger can be trusted just as much as the ravens…and that's coming from ME!" Raiva pointed out angrily.

The three continued to follow Cragger through the jungle, as he also nearly hurt Rogon, Gorzan and Worriz when their relaxation time together was suddenly interrupted by Cragger's vicious sprinting and growling growling.

And out of curiosity, the boys were intrigued to follow the rampaging crocodile prince too.

Soon, the six teens followed croc friend to the Forever Rock, as he was so crazy with Chi power, that he just hurled himself off the edge of the cliff and landed down on the Forever Rock's sacred platform.

But Cragger still couldn't stop himself, so he just went running right for the Forever Rock itself, and rammed into it; since unstoppable force met an immovable object, Cragger used all of his force to push through the rock, but to no avail. Cragger even tried to get through by digging his claws into the rock, creating a long streak of deep claw marks.

"Cragger, stop this!" Laval shouted at his best friend when he carefully approached him, but he got too close when Cragger suddenly turned around and pounced on him, pinning the lion prince down and wrapping his powerful claws around his neck.

"CRAGGER, NO!" Laval pleaded.

But luck was on Laval's side when Laval's father showed up with a few more guards, and he shot Cragger with a De-Chiing gun, the blast siphoning the remaining Chi power in Cragger, and leaving him drained of energy and completely defenseless.

"Chain him and call his parents!" Lagravis demanded of the guards, but then he glared at his son after the guards had picked Cragger up off of Laval, "Son, what were you thinking?!"

"I-I'm so sorry, Dad…I-I had no idea he was gonna plug an orb…we just wanted to have some fun," Laval whimpered in the angry presence of his father, as he watched his poor and exhausted friend being carried away by the guards.

"That doesn't make it any better, Son. Someone could have REALLY gotten hurt; next time, ask yourself if it's the right thing to do…now, I've got to explain this to Cragger's parents, and you know how difficult they can be," Lagravis protested with a little fear in his tone, as he scratched the back of his head.

* * *

 **I just love the relationship between Razar and Raiva, and believe me when I say it's gonna get A LOT more interesting as the series progresses.**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Don't Trust Her

**In case you forgot, we are still in Laval's flashback.**

* * *

Chapter 3 - Don't Trust Her

"HE DID WHAT?!"

When news of Cragger's "episode" reached the crocodile kingdom out in the swamp, King Crominus was not amused, especially since was currently in the middle of a peaceful mud bath when he got the bad news. But he wasn't just mad about his bath getting cut short, he was also mad about how the lions had treated his son.

"NO ONE blasts and chains MY son!"

* * *

Later that night, as the full moon hung up in the starry night sky, King Crominus and his pink dress-clad wife, Queen Crunket, had left with the majority of their crocodiles to guard the Lion Temple entrance, just as the lion guards were as well. And the royals themselves had a heated discussion in the throne room.

"What made you even THINK you could treat my son like this, Lagravis?!"

"I'm sorry, but there was no other safer way to stop him," Lagravis apologized to the infuriated crocodile king.

"But who said you could pulse and chain down a young crocodile!" Crominus growled.

"Dad, please, I'm not a hatchling anymore," Cragger softy protested as he waited with his mother.

"Stay out of this, Cragger," Queen Crunket warned with a whisper.

"King Crominus, you know that for generations, Chi-ing up before the Age of Becoming is dangerous, thus strictly forbidden," Lagravis calmly pointed out.

"Yes! And I would think your son would know that too, but did he stop Cragger? No!" Crominus ranted on, "I believe an apology is in order."

"Indeed, we do not need any bad blood between out tribes," Lagravis informed with embarrassment.

"Indeed. We have had enough of that in the past," Crominus agreed while nodding.

"So, let us forget any of this happened…when would you like to apologize, Prince Cragger?" Lagravis questioned, but he got his hopes up a little too high.

"Actually, I was expecting an apology from YOUR son," Crominus protested with a grunt.

"What?!" Laval and Lagravis both exclaimed in shock.

"You actually think Cragger is to blame for all of this? You would think a 'noble' lion such as Laval would try to make a better impression on him," Crunket added with a slight growl.

"You've gotta be kidding me! It was ALL Cragger's idea!" Laval protested with rage.

"Know your place, little lion cub!" Crominus boomed.

"And you should know yours, King Crominus," Lagravis pointed out without trying to sound like a threat.

"Perhaps it would be best to settle this another time," Crominus snarled in defeat.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's already been settled. For thousands of years, the Lion Tribe has watched over this sacred Chi Pool, and we make sure the Chi it provides is always used equally and properly…but what your son did was NOT proper…OR equal," Lagravis calmly explained, and Crominus closed his eyes for a second while humming in thought.

…

"I expected a better apology than that, Lagravis!" Crominus roared while snapping his jaws angrily, and he glared back at all of the lions around him, "this isn't over, lions! We crocodiles never forget! NEVER!"

With that, an angry crocodile king and his crocodile subjects left the lion temple unsatisfied.

"I'm pretty sure it's elephants that never forget," Laval added with a chuckle after they left, but Lagravis still wasn't happy with his son.

"Laval…just go to you room."

* * *

Over the next few days, Cragger wasn't allowed to play with Laval anymore, so he always looked towards Worriz to play Hide and Seek, but Worriz wasn't as close to Cragger as Laval was, and the wolf wasn't as 'into' the game either.

"Ha! Got'cha, dog!" Cragger laughed evilly when he found Worriz hiding in some tall grass, as they were playing just between the borders of the Crocodile Swamplands and the jungles of Chima.

"Ugh! Can we PLEASE stop playing this? Hide and Seek is just so…" Worriz huffed as he lost again, and he couldn't find the right words to describe it.

"I know, I know, it's Laval's came, and there's too many rules to it. That's why I'm more into—Hide and Attack!" Cragger shouted when he thought he had the element of surprise and tried to pounce on Worriz, but he only failed epically when the wolf only countered his attack and sent the croc hurling into a tree.

"Why can't you just go ask Laval and your other good friends to play with you?" Worriz asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I…I can't."

"Why not?"

"Well, first off, Raiva is probably off with her boyfriend Razar; Eris is probably out flying, so I'd never be able to find her, and the others…well, I couldn't give a crap."

"Well, I'm done playing these kid games."

"They're not kid games, they're fighting games…for kids. Besides, my dad said I'm not allowed to play with the lions anymore."

"Yeah, I heard…you plugged Chi before your time, and I think that's bold," Worriz complemented with a grin.

"Thanks."

"But I still have one question…the Chi, what's it like?"

"Oh, Mother of Mud…it's like…rebirth…a rejuvenation…the best feeling ever," Cragger replied as he closed his eyes to try and remember that feeling of Chi power, "C'mon—I'll show you."

So, the two headed out for the Lion Temple, and they used the same overgrowth path of vines up the side of the temple Cragger and Laval originally used to get in. Once they were inside, it seemed a little too quiet to Worriz.

"Shouldn't there be…oh, I don't know…guards around the pool?"

"Who the hell cares? There's Chi right there, and it's ours for the taking," Cragger protested in a whisper, so they started tip-toeing up to the sacred pool, only for King Lagravis and a couple lion guards to unexpectedly get in their way and stop them.

"What do you think you're doing, Prince Cragger?" Lagravis questioned with disappointment.

"I-I…I wasn't doing anything…just ask Worriz…Worriz?!"

But when Cragger thought Worriz had his back, he was totally wrong when the said wolf suddenly darted out of the temple in fear.

"I-it's not what it looks like…this was all Laval's idea," Cragger lied, but it wasn't going to work.

"Oh, really? It was all MY idea? How is that even possible when I've been locked up in my room for days?" Laval asked angrily as he approached the scene.

"Watch after him while I call his parents," Lagravis told the guards firmly.

"What?! No! Please, don't call my parents again!" Cragger pleaded.

"Oh, yeah? And are YOU gonna stop us?" one of the guards questioned threateningly, chuckling darkly at the pathetic young croc.

Cragger struggled to think at first with all of this fear, but then he just suddenly ignored his mind and let his actions do the talking; he took down the guards and Lagravis with a kick of his clawed feet or a hard swoop of his tail, but he spared Laval and made a run for it.

"Hey! No one gets away after hurting MY dad!" Laval roared as he went after Cragger, and the chase only went on deep into the jungle on their speedorz.

But in the midst of the jungle chase, Cragger grabbed out a green flare gun, aimed straight up to the sky, and fired a large flare with bright green colors, and that flare only meant one thing.

* * *

The crocodiles in the swamp took notice of Cragger's flare, so they immediately knew they had to tell the king and queen.

"King Crominus! Queen Crunket! Quick! It's the Croc Flare!"

But the crocs weren't the only ones who saw the signal, the lions did too, and they knew it wouldn't be good for them, and they had to prepare for the worse now.

* * *

The chase between Cragger and Laval continued even further out when they went all the way through and out of the jungle, and into The Fangs.

The Fangs was a place everyone in Chima feared; it was a dangerous place, filled with sharp turns and curves, making it rather dangerous to be driving a vehicle at top speeds; the entirety of The Fangs was made up of sharp and jagged rocks that liked to point in many directions, but mostly up; lastly, there were many sinkholes there too, and just the slightest amount of too much weight could tip the scale and send you plummeting to your death.

But soon, Cragger was wrong when he thought Laval wouldn't be able to catch him here when the said lion prince finally caught up with him and stopped his Speedor right in front of his to stop him.

"Laval? But how did you-?"

"My dad taught me nearly every curve in The Fangs; there's no way you'll outrun me out here."

"Oh, come on. We've always done everything together. Why haven't you ever brought me out here?" Cragger questioned with in disbelief that his best friend never took him out to the most exciting place in all of Chima.

"It's just too dangerous; there are thin areas and deep sinkholes everywhere…that, and my dad has a strict rule about me coming out here without him."

"Ugh, there you go again with all of your lion rules!" Cragger snarled, failing to notice that he was walking right over a very large crack in the earth, and when he stepped over it, the crack let out a loud rumble as it grew even farther across The Fangs. But even though the deep rumbling was enough to worry Laval, Cragger still ignored it.

"Laval, if only you knew how great the power felt…you'd do the same to me," Cragger growled as he dismounted his Speedor and turned away from Laval while crossing his arms.

"No, Cragger—I wouldn't, and I wouldn't sell my best friend out either," Laval softly protested as he stepped off his Speedor too, and THAT was enough to finally make Cragger 'partially' realize the error of his mistake, so he sighed sadly as he looked down at his claws with guilt.

"Laval…I'm sorry."

"For what? The backstabbing or the lying?" Laval asked with a sneer.

"Not just that, but for calling…them." Cragger then pointed out the entire Crocodile Tribe rushing out onto The Fangs with weapons and tanks; the king and queen riding in and leading the tribe in the largest fighter tank.

"Son, get away from that lion!" King Crominus demanded.

"Oh, we've been worried sick about you, Dear! That lion is a terrible influence on you!" Queen Crunket added angrily.

"You called the ENTIRE crocodile tribe?!" Laval shouted at his friend.

"I may have just…accidentally…sent up a Croc Flare," Cragger pointed out in shame.

"WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry! I panicked, ok?!"

Just then, the majority of the lion tribe showed up as well, knowing it only meant trouble for them if a Croc Flare is sent up.

"You crocodiles stay away from my son!" Lagravis warned the crocs with a roar.

"How about YOU stay away from ours?! ATTACK!" Crominus boomed, signaling his crocodile subjects to charge, and an all-out battle between lion and crocodile, the one that Laval and Cragger had only fantasized as kids, was now happening right before them.

"Cragger, you need to tell them to stop!" Laval pointed out in terror, but Cragger was already on it was he was sprinting towards a ledge that was over looking most of the battle, and his parents in their largest crocodile-shaped tank below was driving by, so he had to catch it to stop this.

The crocodile prince sprinted and lunged himself off the cliff, afterwards landing safely onto window of the cock-pit above his parents.

"Mom! Dad! Please! It was just a misunderstanding!" Cragger pleaded, but his parents only ignored him and pushed him into the other cock-pit while shutting the door on it too.

"We're not taking any chances, Son! Last time, those lions blasted you, but now, it's OUR turn!" Crominus growled, and then they went on through the battle, across the cracking land, creating even more large cracks in the already brittle ground.

The center of The Fangs could barely even hold Cragger and Laval a while ago, so there was no way it was going to be able to hold the entire two tribes AND the royal crocodiles' tank.

But suddenly, a large portion of the land they were on finally gave out from underneath them.

"Stop! Everyone out!" Crominus demanded of his family, but the only one who could get out was Cragger, as his parents were still stuck innside with the edge of the cliff barricading the doors. And time was against them as the ground was slowly but surely continuing to sink.

"No! Everyone, just please stop! This really is all my fault! I should never have tried to take Chi, blame Laval, OR fire the Croc Flare! But please just stop; the ground's unstable, and my parents are trapped inside!"

Every croc and lion had stopped fighting and went silent with worry when they heard Cragger's pleading cries, and they saw him trying to grip his parents' tank and lift it out, but he clearly didn't have the power.

"Quick…someone…I don't have the power to save them…not without Chi!" Cragger grunted, hoping that someone would gave him some Chi…but no one could do or say anything with the ground becoming weaker and weaker by the second, preventing them from moving any closet to Cragger and his parents.

Thus, all hope was lost for Crominus and Crunket, and they accepted their fate.

"It's over, Son…you're king, now," Crominus told his son with sorrow.

"Make us proud," Crunket demanded as a tear rolled down her face.

"And whatever you do, don't-!" But before Crominus could finish his sentence, the ground finally gave out, and Laval was brave enough to step forward and grab Cragger's tail and pulling him to safety, preventing him from falling and sharing his parents' fate.

But despite chances of survival for the king and queen crocodiles looking pretty much impossible, they actually survived; for down at the bottom of the giant, deep, dark trench, King Crominus and Queen Crunket were slowly gaining consciousness…but their tank wasn't as lucky, as it lay in many pieces

"Don't worry, My Queen, I'm sure we'll find a way out," Crominus reassured his wife as he helped her onto her feet.

"But what about Cragger?" Crunket questioned with worry.

"He knows it's not the lions' fault…but I hope he heeds my warning not to listen to his sister."

* * *

Cragger was devastated after having to watch his parents fall to their death, and now he was sorrowfully lounging in his father's throne at the Crocodile Swamp…but he wasn't to be lounging alone for much longer.

"It's those lions, Brother. They just can't be trusted."

"It's not their fault, Crooler," Cragger sadly protested, as his sadness prevented him from having the strength to look up at his sister for long.

Crooler was Cragger's twin sister…but she was a few minutes older than him; the spines on the back of her skull and running down her back and tail had a natural dark purple coloration, and the tiniest little rasp in her voice made her sound VERY shady.

"Oh, but it is, Brother—or should I say—"King"?" Crooler asked slyly as she handed Cragger their father's royal golden helmet, and she left Cragger no choice but to take it into his claws and look over it.

And with that, Cragger's sister then left with a dark, scheming chuckle as she twiddled her claws.

* * *

 **...**

 **I actually don't have anything else to say.**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	4. Chapter 4 - An Ending Like This

Chapter 4 - An Ending Like This

A few more years had gone by, and poor Cragger was always found sulking in his father's throne; the young croc had been growing thin from lack of sleep or food, and this worried Crooler; not for the sake of her brother, but for her sake of her lust for tyranny for her tribe…and she needed help.

So, Crooler headed out for the one tribe of animals that she knew she could rely on to have what she needed: the ravens. But not just any raven could be the most reliable, as Crooler knew she had to go see the raven prince, Razar, for her aid.

"Ah, Princess Crooler. Looking to buy something on this fine day?" Razar asked with a hopeful smile when Crooler entered his small shop.

The ravens lived in the outskirts of Chima's vast and luscious jungle, and their land was terribly dry and barren. But with their hoarding after, the ravens have been able to create livable abodes out of scrap metal in their messy junkyard of a home.

"Yes, I am, Prince Razar. I know you ravens like to hoard…" Crooler began.

"Hmm, 'hoard' is such a strong word—I'd say 'collect'—but go on."

"So, I need something important from you."

"Could you be more specific?"

"I need something that will control my brother's mind."

"Ah! Aren't you a lucky croc? We're having a sale for all royals that drop by today who are looking for the rare Persuasion Plant!"

"The what?"

Razar only grinned as he reached under the counter and lifted up a large cloth bag, plopping it on the counter top in front of Crooler, and spilling some dark purple and pink across the counter in which she had never seen before; he then reached back up onto a shelf and pulled down a pot of small, odd-looking, shriveled up plants.

"These, my fair crocodile princess, are Persuasion Plants, or as we ravens like to call them 'A Sales Man's Best Friend'. Now, these plants actually grow best in the swamp, not out here in the barrens, and since these little guys have seen better days, I'll throw in a quarter of this bag of Persuasion Plant seeds with only a payment of ten extra bits."

"Interesting…but how are dying plants going to help me?" Crooler questioned with a glare.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked. They're called 'Persuasion Plants' for a reason, you know. Salesmen like to use them to cloud their customers' minds, so that they can trick them into buying whatever they want them to, at any price as well, but they're so rare that we have to use them wisely. So, if you're interested in a payment, that'll be twenty bits for all of these plants, and that'll also be an extra ten bits for the quarter bag of seeds. Do we have a deal?"

Crooler thought hard for a moment, and she figured her money would be worth it for her tribe and the control of her brother's mind, so she paid with the correct amount of cash Razar demanded, and was now headed out of the market…but she suddenly stopped and stared back at the raven prince in curiosity.

"By the way…where is your girlfriend?"

"Oh, you know how different Raiva is; always wanting to read books with her best friend Eris and the rest of the eagles, instead being with her own kind…but it's just that girl's rebellious acts that are just so…attractive," Razar replied with a smirk, realizing how lucky he is to have a girl like Raiva.

But Crooler only scoffed, as the idea of being in a mushy relationship sickened her, and she left the shop with a snarl.

* * *

Now, Crooler didn't really know anything about gardening, but if her plan to cloud her brother's mind with hatred towards the lions were to come true, she'd better start learning; especially when she found the perfect little patch of tilled mud in the swamp to plant the seeds and replant the shriveled saplings.

And as weeks went by, the Persuasion Plant's dying sprouts and seeds that Crooler planted were showing very slow yet sure signs of growth, as they were growing into mere green stems with dark pink buds.

But with just another month and expert care, the plants seemed to be in full bloom; at least, they looked strong enough to Crooler as she plucked the biggest flower from her garden, being the size of a little cupcake in her claws.

So now, it was Crooler's chance to make Cragger truly see how bad the lions really are, as the she-crocodile stepped forward to her mentally-aching brother, who couldn't even be brightened up by the royal jesters, as he continued to sulk in the throne.

"I have something that will make you feel better, Brother."

"Crooler, I already told you, I'm not attacking the lions. It's not their fault our parents are…" Cragger meekly protested, still not having the strength to look up, and he couldn't dare complete his sentence with that vile word.

"Who said anything about the lions? I just wanted to show this plant that I think you'll really find—quite enchanting," Crooler cooed as she brought the Persuasion Plant out from behind her back, and waved it in front of Cragger's face to see if what Razar said about this plant was true.

And it was. A cloud of bright purple mist burst out from the plant's blossom, and engulfed Cragger's face as he sniffed its pedals, inhaling the strange scent…and seconds later, things seemed different about the new crocodile king when his eyes began to glow a bright red.

"Yes…I feel stronger…strong enough to take down our enemy—the lions!" Cragger shouted as the mist in his mind made him think he was stronger, and that the lions were truly the enemy and the ones at fault for his parents' demise.

* * *

After all this time, Laval has never heard a single word from Cragger, so Lagravis was starting to worry for his son AND his best friend.

"Still nothing from Cragger?" Lagravis asked softly as he approached his son from behind, who was sitting at the top of the tall stone staircase that lead up to the entrance into the Lion Temple.

"No…I'm starting to thank I might never hear from him again."

"Give Cragger time, Son…he did lose his parents, after all. And as noble lions, we must make sure there is peace and balance within the land of Chima."

"Oh, boy…I sense The Great Story coming on. You know that story about the 'Legend Beasts' is only a wives' tale, right Dad?" Laval groaned while rolling his eyes.

"No, it is not just some wives' tale, Son; it is a legend, and legends are lessons—countless centuries ago, there were no villages, no vehicles, no tribes even. Creatures walked on all fours back then, and they never communicated with each other like we do today…but that was not to last when a miracle occurred; the sky was blessed when the heart of Chima was opened, and out arose Mount Cavora. The water that spilled from the new land was different, and when the animals drank from it, they became smarter, more sophisticated. But some had chosen to avoid the advantages of this new source we now call Chi, and thus left Chima. Now, they aimlessly roam The Outlands, and they have been known as the Legend Beasts, but it is said that they will return to Chima when they are needed most…even though few even believe in their existence anymore. To this day, Mount Cavora continues to supply us with the almighty Chi Orbs, as they are formed by the special minerals in the Sacred Chi Pool—in our Lion Temple."

…

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…Dad, I've heard that story, like, a thousand times. And if I'm honest, it's more of a 'good' story rather than a 'great' one; it could REALLY use a better ending, along with some intense action."

"And what YOU could really use, Son, is more maturity and respect," Lagravis growled in disappointment.

But that was when the sudden sound of screeching breaks caught the lions' attention; it was the Speedorz of Eris, Razar, who was accompanied by Raiva as she sat behind him, and Rogon, Gorzan, Bladvic and Worriz riding closely behind them; each of their Speedorz were designed to look like the animals of their tribes.

They were also joined by the rest of their tribes for this special event, as they gathered at the base of the Lion Temple.

But as more animals kept coming, Laval was confused when he never saw his best friend, despite seeing some crocodiles.

"I don't see Cragger anywhere, Dad."

"Don't worry, he'll come for his Chi. Remember Laval, as the first ones to drink from the Chi water, we lions are its eternal guardians, ensuring that it is shared equally by all," Lagravis calmly explained as he and his son descended down the stairs to meet up with the rest of the animals.

"Once every month, we distribute enough Chi to each of the tribes," Lagravis began, as he pointed out some of the lion guards taking Chi Orbs from a big bowl, and gently placing them into Rogon's leather satchel.

"Sa-weet! Gots me some Chi! Tonight's gonna be a good, good night!" Rogon happily sang as he danced around with some of his rhino friends, nearly shaking the ground with their massive bodies and reckless dancing.

"Even the tribes we may not always see eye-to-eye with must be granted with Chi as well," Lagravis added with a sigh, as a few crocodiles came up to grab their Chi, and they sent a glare towards anyone who dared give them eye contact.

"Hey…is Cragger gonna be here?" Laval asked one of the crocs.

"You mean KING Cragger…oh, yeah, you'll see him soon enough," the croc replied darkly with a grin, showing his jagged teeth.

"I don't get the crocs sometimes…" Laval wondered aloud after the crocodiles were out of hearing range.

"I agree…and I don't think they get us either," Lagravis added in a hushed tone.

"Lagravis, Sir! It's time to set up the 'The Orb'!" one of the lion guards with a dark brown mane called out.

With that, a couple more guards came out with a pair of long, metal tongs in their claws, and in the middle of the tongs with a giant, golden Chi Orb.

"Ah, yes. The Golden Chi Orb; it's like clock-work. This extra rare orb forms only once a month, and when it does, we don't just GIVE it away…" Lagravis began with a smile, as the Golden Orb was placed on a tall stone pedestal.

"We race for it! Yeah!" Laval suddenly cheered.

That was why one member of each tribe showed up with their Speedorz, because they were all coming to compete for the Golden Chi Orb.

"Fellow citizens of Chima!" Lagravis announced, causing cheering caws, howls and roars to echo in the air, "for centuries, to prevent cheating when racing, the Golden Chi Orb's magic chooses a new track each month! What will it be this time? Will it be a torture course of obstacles? Or a ruthless race of ramps?"

As the old lion went on, a collection bright golden aura rays had spread out like spider legs from the rare golden orb, as they hovered above the tribes and over the land. And the animals cheered even louder, as the next tournament was slowly being formed before them.

"Ah! This month's challenge will be the Joust of Jungle Judgment! And you all know the rules: riders must have blunts on their weapons; anyone caught WITHOUT the proper weaponry will be IMMEDIATELY disqualified!" Lagravis firmly announced.

"First round will be between Laval and Gorzan!" a lion guard announced.

Laval and Gorzan each boarded their Speedorz with blunted jousting blades in hand, as they drove to the opposite ends of the jungle that had a straight-way clearing for the event in the middle.

The lion and gorilla soon pulled the lever on their Speedorz, grinding their gears, and they sped towards each other with their jousts lowered. But Laval was the lucky winner when they met in the middle, as Gorzan was knocked off of his Speedor.

"BUMMEER!" Gorzan cried as he fell into a bush that luckily broke his fall, and Laval soon came to his aid.

"Good game, Buddy. Little bit of advice: tilt your Speedor farther inwards next time."

"Groovy," Gorzan said with a smile, and they cleared the track for the next competitors.

"Next up is Rogon vs. Bladvic!"

The rhino and bear then lowered their jousts and soon sped towards each other…but being a bear and used to always hibernating, Bladvic literally fell asleep on his Speedor, and he didn't even wake up when he was thrown off of his Speedor and crash-landed.

The other rhinos all cheered for the successful Rogon, as some of the lion guards dragged a sleeping Bladvic off the track.

"Laval vs. Rogon!"

Maybe it's a little rushed, but Laval won once again, as he knocked Rogon from his Speedor, and Rogon's horn was pinned deeply into the ground.

"Worriz vs. Razar!"

"Be careful, Razar!" Raiva warned as she gave her lover a quick kiss on the cheek before flying off to get out of the way.

But when Worriz and Razar darted towards each other, Worriz cheated by throwing his blunted joust at his opponent, knocking poor Razar off, as the raven angrily shook his silver hook at the wolf.

"Man, I really wish Cragger were here for this; jousting was always his best event, and then he'd win, and it'd be me and him in the end…like it always was," Laval sadly pointed out while he was slouching in his Speedor next to Eris.

"Yeah, but this time, it's you versus that unreliable mutt, Worriz," Eris pointed out with concern.

"The final joust will determine who the Golden Chi Orb will go home with! The last joust will be between Laval the lion and Worriz the wolf!"

Laval and Worriz both drove up to the opposite ends of the jousting jungle, but Laval could clearly see the death glare Worriz was giving him.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this, Laval!" Worriz howled with an evil grin.

"You can dream about sending me ta Hell and back as much as you want, Dog—but it'll never happen!" Laval growled back with a cocky smirk, as he and Worriz both started their Speedorz.

Now, Worriz REALLY despised being called a dog or mutt, so he let out a raging growl as he sped forward, Laval doing the same towards Worriz. But Worriz recalled that he no longer had his joust since he threw it at Razar, but that didn't stop him; the wolf grinned evilly as he pushed a certain button, activating two non-blunted spears on the lower half of his Speedor and they pointed at Laval.

"Hey! Whoa! That's not fair!" Laval cried, and since he only had a blunt jousting stick, he made an immediate u-turn, and Worriz was soon chasing him around the jousting jungle.

But Laval soon realized the last trick he had up his sleeve; the young lion made yet another u-turn, but this time, he literally used his joust to pull-vault himself into the air, and he took the wolf by complete surprise when he used his Speedor to knock Worriz from his own.

Worriz was then sent flying into a near-by thorn bush, and though he wasn't fatally hurt, he only came out with bald spots around his crotch area because the thorns tore the some of his fur clean off…lucky for Worriz, the thorns didn't tear off his red loincloth.

A couple of wolves soon ran out onto the track, and handed his some blankets to cover his now furless legs, as some of the other animals laughed and snickered.

"You'll pay for this, Laval!" Worriz growled viciously, as he just left the whole event before he could get anymore humiliated.

"The winner of the Golden Chi Orb is—Laval the lion!"

"Alright!" Laval shouted with glee, as the other tribes cheered too.

"Hold it, lions!"

Everyone gasped and turned to find none other than Cragger, as the croc king's evil smile and glare intimidated them all, as he drove through the large crowd on his Speedor.

"If you big cats really DO follow the rules—then you know that ALL willing racers must get a chance to compete for the Golden Chi!" Cragger angrily pointed out.

"All competitors must arrive at the start of the event to be able to qualify, Cragger," Lagravis calmly protested.

"Oh, c'mon Laval! Just ONE joust—for old time's sake?" Cragger asked slyly, and Laval was VERY tempted to just jump onto his Speedor to challenge his croc rival.

"Fight it, Laval. Cragger is only trying to tempt you; he's just not worth it," Lagravis demanded while stopping his son, in which Laval growled.

"Well, if YOU won't fight me, then I'll just have to find someone who will!" Cragger wondered allowed as he looked around for the perfect competitor, and he grinned evilly when he spotted Eris at the opposite end of the track.

Eris gasped when she realized Cragger was looking at her, and he soon sped towards her; the eagle then tried to start her Speedor, but it only grumbled every time she rapidly pulled on the start lever. Why couldn't she just fly away? She was so scared, her wings had become too stiff with terror to even flutter.

"I LOVE chicken wings!" Cragger taunted, but when he was just halfway there, Laval suddenly jumped down on his Speedor, stopping Cragger from getting any closer to his eagle friend.

"Now's THAT'S more I like it!" Cragger shouted as he made an immediate turn, and Laval instantly went after him.

"Oh no, Dudes! They're headed for the Falling Jungle!" Gorzan called out as he climbed high up into a tree to watch Laval and Cragger speed off to the said part of the jungle.

"The Falling Jungle?! That place is TOTALLY unsafe; we gotta help them!" Eris pointed out with worry.

Meanwhile, Laval glanced around frantically in search of Cragger; he didn't even care that he was now in the dark, dank and very unstable Falling Jungle, as his biggest concern was that he suddenly seemed to have lost Cragger.

"You may know The Fangs like the back of your paw, Laval, but the Falling Jungle MY new favorite stomping grounds—emphasis on STOMP!" Cragger called mockingly, and he suddenly came out of nowhere and ninja-kicked Laval off of his Speedor.

"Funny thing is, Laval—you get to laugh about me suddenly kicking you, but my parents—they don't get to laugh. Know why? BECAUSE THEY'RE DEAD, AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!" Cragger growled as he slowly twirled his double-sided, red-glowing spear in his claws.

"Look, I'm sorry that you're parents died, but that wasn't our fault," Laval sadly protested as he slowly picked himself up and grabbed his sword, and he and Cragger started circling each other.

"Yes it is! If you had just given me some damn Chi, I would've been able to save them!"

With that, Cragger tried to strike Laval with his spear, but when he threw it, he missed and pinned it into a fallen trees, as Laval dodged it and jumped up onto the thick tree.

"No, it's YOUR fault, Cragger! If you hadn't made me chase you out to The Fangs, OR sent up a Croc Flare, NONE of that would've ever happened," Laval calmly pointed out, as he watched his angry old friend recklessly try to pry his spear from the log.

Once Cragger freed his spear, he pounced up onto the log…and he soon had a brilliant idea when he suddenly noticed the vine holding up the end of the log they were on. So, Cragger let out a loud snarl before ramming Laval, knocking him off, and then the crocodile cut the vine with a swift swipe of his spear.

This resulted in the lower half of Laval's body getting trapped and nearly crushed under the huge tree. And Laval had dropped his sword on the way down, so he was left completely defenseless, as Cragger jumped down and glared down at him.

"Say goodnight, cat," Cragger instructed grimly, as he raised his spear in both claws to finish Laval.

But luck was on Laval's side when a sudden metal bolo came flying through the air, and it nearly broke Cragger's wrist when it knocked his spear from his grasp.

"What?!" Cragger snapped as he looked up and found Eris, as she zipped through the air and she caught her bolo.

"Better start running, Cragger, or this little birdie will hit you with its metal eggs again!" Eris warned with a growl.

Cragger wasn't scared of a girl…but he was suddenly really shaky when he heard a large thud behind him, and he slowly turned to find an angry and huffing Gorzan glaring down at him.

"Better listen to the lady, dude," Gorzan demanded with a growl, and he bared his huge canines at the croc.

And Cragger wasted no time in snatching up his spear, and sprinting off in defeat…for now.

"Hey dude, ya got a little tree on your shirt there. Let me get that for you," Gorzan joked as he effortlessly lifted the tree up enough for Eris to pull Laval back up to his feet.

"Thanks, guys," Laval sighed while brushing dirt off himself.

"Don't thank us yet. Cragger is bound to come back," Eris figured.

* * *

Later that day, when the sun was starting to set, the wolves and ravens had arrived at the crocodile tribe's swamp because of the summoning letter they crocs sent them.

"Ah, hello there, Worriz. I see the fur is growing back rather nicely," Cragger softly taunted, as he was right to say that the fur around Worriz's legs and groin was growing back quickly.

"Cut the small-talk, Cragger. What is it you want?" Worriz snarled with a slight blush.

"You and I both despise the lions, so why not act upon our hatred for them—and destroy them together?" Cragger asked darkly, as his eyes suddenly flashed with a quick red glow.

"You're just as twisted as I am, Cragger—and I respect that. I want to see those lions perish in my claws just as much as you do. My only question is, how did you get the ravens to help too?" Worriz questioned with an evil smirk.

"Puh-lease. A few shiny things, and those stupid birds will do anything," Cragger scoffed as he snickered at the ravens, who were luckily out of hearing range.

"I actually beg to digger! Bring 'er in, Boys!"

With Worriz's command, a couple of his wolves suddenly approached them with something unexpected in their grasp; struggling with her hands and wings bound tightly behind her back was Raiva.

"We caught her snooping around our camp after I came back from the race; she must've followed me, figuring I'd plot my revenge," Worriz explained as he glared back at the female raven.

"I'll NEVER let you hurt anyone, so just stop this now before I…guh, let me go!" Raiva warned as she tried to escape her binds, but to no avail.

"Is that you, Raiva? Oh, I've heard so much about you from your beloved Razar; in fact, I'd like to talk to you about him. May I?" Crooler asked dramatically, as she secretly held a Persuasion Plant blossom behind her back, and she wanted Worriz's permission before taking the raven off their paws.

"Sure. But keep her tied up," Worriz grimly commanded as he violently shoved Raiva towards the crocodile princess, who lead the raven a few yards away and hid behind a thick tree.

"What do you want with me?" Raiva hissed.

"I only want to help you and Razar with your relationship, Sweetheart. Razar may love your rebellious acts—but let's see how much he'll love you when you become his bad bitch," Crooler chuckled darkly, as she suddenly pulled out the blossom and waved it in front of Raiva's face, causing dark purple dust to spray out and cloud her mind.

Not a minute later had Raiva been fully convinced that she was to lead the ravens into battle alongside the wolves and the crocodiles—by Razar's side as his queen. So, the raven's eyes were now glowing bright red just like Cragger's, and Crooler smiled as she cut her free from her binds, allowing her to walk out from behind the tree and into the presence of the wolves, ravens, and crocodiles, smiling at them all with an evil grin.

"My beloved ravens—and loyal crocodile and wolf friends—there will be NO room for error! For tonight, I will be your queen and lead you to victory, and we will DESTROY THE LIONS!" Raiva announced with a voice of power and strength, but the word 'queen' was like a trigger for Razar, as he flew approached her with a shocked look on his face.

"Raiva, dearest…what has happened to you? You've changed, and…I like it," Razar stated with shock at first, but his look of surprise soon turned to a look of lust.

"Oh, my prince, I would be glad to make you my king, and I will be your queen, and we shall rule over the ravens together," Raiva softly stated as she grabbed both of Razar's hands in hers, but what she did next took Razar by complete surprise; she suddenly pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

But the moment only became more awkward, even after their kiss ended, when a little blue plover bird with a feathery floof upon his head suddenly flew in, and forced his beak into Cragger's mouth, pecking at his jagged teeth.

"Plovar…what are you doing here?" Cragger asked while trying to hold back his anger, and he talked awkwardly with his mouth open.

"Why, have you forgotten our dentist appointment, Craggy-Waggy? Silly boy!" Plovar laughed with a giddy English accent.

"Plovar, I'm serious, this is a really bad time."

"NO time is more important than getting your teeth cleaned!"

Cragger was really starting to lose his temper when he noticed that the others were all starting to snicker at him.

"Could we…could we please just reschedule, Plovar?"

"Oh, fine. They're your teeth, not mine. I shall see you next time then, yes?" Plovar asked, as he then cheerfully flew away.

"Right…now, back to the point! Tonight, we show those lions NO MERCY!" Cragger angrily announced, and it stirred up the fire in all the other crocodiles, ravens, and wolves.

* * *

 **End of flashback…**

And that's how it all happened. That's how these events lead up to the attack on the Lion Temple on the day of Laval's Age of Becoming Ceremony…and Laval realized that now, as he looked down on his old friend by the Forever Rock.

"Well? What are you waiting for? We're enemies, so you must finish me off!" Cragger snarled.

"No, you're not my enemy, Cragger. You're just an innocent crocodile who's lost his way," Laval softly stated as he sheathed his sword, and he then just left Cragger.

But the crocodile wasn't going to be rejected like this, so without warning, he suddenly lunged at Laval, and pinned him down by the edge of the rock, causing the tips of the lion's mane to get dunked down into the lake a few mere inches below.

"You don't get it, do you Laval? I. Am. Your. Enemy! You lions may THINK you can keep your pathetic balance in Chima, but that's all child's play now! Chima is crumbling, and you need to see that, Laval! Was that 'balance' you saw outside your beloved Lion Temple? Huh, Laval?! Now that I'm no longer your friend, whenever you show weakness, I'll show you no mercy in return!"

Laval didn't want to believe what has become of his old friend, but Cragger suddenly proved his point when he dug his claws into the lion's arm to flung him into the deep, crystal clear lake. And now, Laval was trying to swim for his life, but he wasn't doing so well…being a cat, and all.

"Cragger…help…please!"

"What part of 'I am your enemy' and 'I'll show you no mercy in return' did you not understand?!" Cragger questioned with shock, but he then left Laval to drown, "see you in hell, Laval!"

The said lion struggled to swim, but he didn't know the first thing about swimming, and it didn't help that he hated water…so the lion eventually became too exhausted to keep paddling, and his body was slowly drifting towards the bottom of the lake.

But just before Laval's eyes rolled back into his head, he swore he felt something massive grab him and effortlessly pull him up to the surface.

When Laval came to, he felt the same massive object give a quick push to his chest, forcing him to spit up large amounts of water from his mouth; the lion was now taking deep breaths, thankful that he was alive, and he finally looked up to see who could've saved him.

What he saw was a miracle.

* * *

The lions were gravelly outnumbered in battle, so Lagravis looked to their last salvation; he went to the highest point on the temple, and he roared loudly into a big horn-like device, amplifying and carrying his roars across the land.

Lagravis' roars for help reached out to their most trusted allies: the eagles and gorillas, and the two said tribes came to the lions' aid as soon as they heard the call.

The gorillas came in their giant gorilla mechs while the eagles arrived in their huge eagle jets, and they certainly evened out the odds a bit against the crocs, wolves and ravens.

And Cragger and Crooler watched from a safe distance, as the progress of the battle put grins on their faces; a bigger grin was on Crooler's.

"The lions may have the eagle and gorillas on their side now, but we are slowly but surely weakening them, Brother. Oh, and Laval—did you 'take care' of him?" Crooler asked as she and Cragger watched the chaos before them from a safe distance.

Just when Crooler brought up Laval, the Persuasion Plant's powers suddenly wore off Cragger's mind, as she shook his head with shock and disbelief.

"Oh, no! Laval! Crooler, I've made a terrible mistake; Laval could be dead, and it's all my-!" Cragger worriedly ranted on, but he suddenly stopped when Crooler once again waved the blossom in front of his face, filled his head with more of the Persuasion Plant's dust.

"When I die—I hope I see that forlorn lion in Hell," Cragger growled.

But Crooler was right; even with the gorillas and eagles' help, the lions were slowly becoming weaker…but another and much more powerful miracle would soon come to the rescue.

A thunderous roar filled the air and echoed across the land, and it was louder than anything anyone had ever heard before.

Everyone gasped and slowly looked towards the setting sun, where they saw the silhouette of Laval riding a Legend Beast; it was the Lion Legend Beast, and it was absolutely huge, as it slowly walked on all-fours towards the bewildered animal tribes, who stopped in mid-battle in the Legend Beast's Presence.

"What? I can't believe this! Legend Beasts don't exist…or do they?" Razar questioned with awe, but that was when he heard a moan from Raiva, as he caught her when she suddenly fainted.

"Ugh…what happened?" Raiva groaned as she rubbed her head in pain, but she was really shocked when she saw Razar's face…and she especially wasn't amused when she suddenly remembered everything that just happened, including Razar letting her get corrupted, "Razar, what did you do?!"

"My Queen, please, I-," Razar tried to protest, only for Raiva to angrily interrupt him.

"I can't believe you, Razar! Is money REALLY more important to you than those you love?!" Raiva shouted as tears started to fill her eyes, "Razar, I…I can't…I can't be with someone who thinks like that."

With that, Raiva lifted off, soon landing by the lions, her TRUE friends…but poor Razar couldn't believe just happened; he just lost the trust of the love of his life, and now, he wasn't sure if he could ever win it back.

So, the raven prince tried to hold back his tears, and suddenly took to the skies to retreat back to his home out in the barren lands, despite the fact that a Legend Beast had shown up. He just didn't care anymore.

But even though Razar was missing out, everyone else couldn't even look away from the huge beast, as they bowed in respect to him; even Crooler couldn't help but bow to the Legend Beast, much to Cragger's surprised.

"You too, Crooler?! What's wrong with you?!"

"I…I-I've never SEEN a Legend Beast before…I've only heard The Great Story," Crooler meekly replied, as a single tear of joy rolled down her face. But Cragger wasn't going to break so easily, as he darted out of the safety of the jungle and pushed a Chi Orb into his chest, in hopes of taking out Lion Legend Beast himself.

But before Cragger could lay a single blow on him, the Legend Beast merely knocked Cragger back with a gentle swipe of one of his massive front paws.

The impact of the Legend Beast's retaliate was powerful enough to knock Cragger against the wall of the Lion Temple, causing his Chi Orb to fall right out of his chest, and Laval was happy to pick it up.

"I do believe THIS is mine!" Laval pointed out with a smile, and he wasted no time in placing the orb in his chest. Soon, he let out a victorious roar, as the giant shape of a bright blue lion engulfed him, and Cragger was not amused by this.

"No! No, no, no! This can't be happening! Why did YOU deserve to be given any Chi?!"

"Oh, don't worry, Cragger, I'll give you something too—I'm giving you ten seconds to get you and all of your troops out of here…nine…eight…seven…" Laval warned, and the other crocs, ravens and wolves wasted no time in fleeing, but Cragger was still furious, as he sent Laval a death glare before reluctantly retreating.

"That was AWESOME, Laval!" Eris happily cheered in the air, and she landed next to her lion friend.

…

"Laval?"

The soft voice of Raiva caught Laval and Eris' attention, as the said raven looked very ashamed while approaching them.

"Laval, I'm so sorry…I never wanted to be a part of this…I-I-I remember talking to Crooler last, and…the next thing I know, I'm here in this battle, and…Razar…he did NOTHING to stop me. Please, let me redeem myself," Raiva pleaded as she looked down at the ground with extreme guilt, but she really didn't have to beg that much, and Eris and Laval grinned at each other.

"It's ok, Raiva," Eris stated softly as she placed a reassuring hand on the raven's shoulder.

"I-it's is?" Raiva whimpered as she slowly looked up at Eris.

"Of course. Friends are ALWAYS worth redeeming," Eris softly replied.

"We're still friends?"

"Best friends." With that, eagle and raven shared a big hug.

"Son," Lagravis began firmly, as he smiled at his son and placed a hand on his shoulder, "you truly are a brave warrior."

Laval couldn't help but smile at his dad, and he also couldn't help but let out another victorious roar. But once he finished his roar, he suddenly noticed that the Legend Beast was disappearing on the horizon.

"Where's the Legend Beast going?" Eris questioned.

"I don't know, but he'll be back—when we need him most," Laval calmly replied.

"I thought you didn't like the Great Story," Raiva pointed out with a chuckle.

"I didn't at first, but only because it needed a better ending—an ending like this."

* * *

 **No, it is NOT the end yet, as there is still much more to come. So, be sure to stick around.**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	5. Chapter 5 - A Flower in the Road

Chapter 5 - A Flower in the Road

After last month's incident, the Lion Tribe prolonged the sharing of Chi Orbs for one more week; now, a few volunteers from each tribe were once again in front of the Lion Temple to get their fair amount of Chi.

Gorzan and a couple of his gorilla friends were up next for their Chi; he was accompanied by an old and grey male gorilla named Gardo, and a younger dark brown gorilla girl named G'Loona. Once the three gorillas reached the top, Laval was happy to see them, as he threw a Chi Orb at Gorzan behind his father's back. And Gorzan nearly fell down the stairs when trying to catch the orb, but that's what got them caught by Lagravis.

"Boys! Have some more respect, please! These Chi Orbs are our sacred resource; powered by Mother Nature herself—we must use it well; use it wisely."

"Dude…" Gorzan sighed with shame, as he left with his friends.

"Dudes…" Gardo added quietly.

"Dude!" G'Loona pointed out, but Laval and Lagravis were confused.

"I'm starting ta think 'dude' has more than one meaning for the gorillas," Laval muttered quietly.

"Maybe. But next time, be more careful—Dude," Lagravis growled in a mocking tone, but then he straightened himself up to give some Chi to the rhinos…at least, they THOUGHT they were rhinos.

The papier-mâché rhino mask was actually to disguise Cragger, as he and his cunning sister revealed themselves.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Laval cried with shock.

"What? We're only here to get our Chi; you lions know the rules: ALL tribes must be granted with their monthly Chi," Cragger calmly pointed out with a grin.

"They're right, Laval. If we didn't have these rules, we would be nothing," Lagravis grimly stated as he handed a few Chi Orbs to Cragger.

"But Dad, they're CROCODILES! They can't be trusted!" Laval angrily protested as he tried to stop his dad.

"They lead an attack with the ravens and the wolves on the temple!" Eris called down as she flew in, and she was soon joined by her best friend, Raiva.

"And they forced me to fight against you too."

"All of those mistakes are in the past now, Son. We must forgive and forget," Lagravis calmly protested, as he then loaded the Chi Orbs into Cragger's satchel, and he and Crooler chuckled darkly as they left.

* * *

Gorzan, Gardo and G'Loona were all riding in their own gorilla mechs, strolling through the jungle in the afternoon to get back to Sanctuary Forest…but they soon crashed into each other when Gorzan suddenly stopped in the road.

"Gorzan, Dude! Why'd ya stop?" G'Loona asked as she and Gardo both exited their mechs, wanting to see what Gorzan was making a big deal over when he was now laying on his stomach in middle of the road.

"Oh, it's a cute little flower," Gardo sighed happily, as all three of them sat around the beautiful little blossoming yellow flower growing in the road.

"But Dudes, we have to move this little flower; it's just not safe out here in the road," G'Loona worriedly pointed out.

"No, G'Loona. This road is Flower's home; we must respect that. But since the others will probably come through here, we must protect it and make a detour around it," Gorzan firmly protested.

* * *

Laval wasn't just going to let the crocs get away so easily with the Chi, so after the giving of the Chi was over, the young lion immediately grabbed his Speedor, and headed down river. Why the river? Because the crocs always liked to travel by water, and Laval soon found them in their crocodile hovercrafts; Cragger and Crooler rode in the biggest hovercraft.

"Cragger, stop! Get back here and give me that Chi!" Laval roared as he tried to catch up to them on the shore.

"Brother, NOW would be the perfect time to test out that flawless plan of yours," Crooler growled into her brother's ear.

"But, technically, it was YOUR plan, and…"

Once again, Crooler didn't let Cragger finish by grabbing out the Persuasion Plant blossom, and Cragger's nostrils were filled with the Persuasion Plant's purple pollen…and his eyes glowed blood red again.

"But ya know what? I DO deserve all the credit," Cragger added darkly, making his sister grin with him, "EVERYONE, STOP!"

All of the crocodiles were very confused as to why their king wanted them to stop for Laval, as they reluctantly pulled up to the shore. And Laval soon met the crocodiles on the shore.

"Now—give me the Chi, Cragger," Laval growled while baring his teeth.

"Alright, alright…don't get your whiskers in a knot, Kitty. Here's your precious Chi; you certainly won't be hearing from us asking for anymore Chi ever again. Isn't that right, Brother?" Crooler asked darkly.

"Very true, Crooler—that's very true," Cragger growled in reply while glaring at Laval, "LET'S MOVE OUT!"

With that, all the crocs disappeared down the River, and Laval smiled down at the full leather satchel of the crocs' Chi.

"Alright, that was much easier than I thought it'd be," Laval chuckled to himself.

"LAVAL!"

Laval glanced up with surprise when he heard his name called; it was actually Raiva who shouted his name, as the said raven was descending down to Laval with Eris the eagle.

"Oh, hey girls! Look, I just got the crocodiles' Chi Orbs back!" Laval informed with a smile, opening the satchel for the girls to see the orbs inside.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Laval?!" Raiva exclaimed with shock.

"W-what do ya mean?" Laval questioned.

"Whether or not the crocs willingly gave you the Chi Orbs, you can't just take them; that'll upset the balance in all of Chima, and REALLY bad things will start happening if you don't fix this!" Eris explained with fear.

"U-uh…what kind of bad things will happen if I don't?" Laval asked sheepishly.

"Go before I carry you to the crocodiles' swamp myself," Raiva growled with raging fire in her eyes, and Laval instantly gulped with fear and nodded rapidly.

* * *

Did Razar take his breakup with Raiva lightly? Of course not! It's all those stupid crocs' fault…though, he would still gladly work for the crocs if they paid the right price.

 _Oh, Raiva was right! I always think that profits are more important than love…and it's not…what is wrong with me?_ Razar scolded himself in his head.

Razar couldn't talk out loud to himself because he was leading some of his ravens through the jungle, as they were pulling some carts packed with sellable merchandise that they had to take back to their junkyard, and he didn't want to look weak in front of his subjects just because he lost the love of his life.

But Razar was rudely pulled from his thoughts when…

"Hey, raven dudes!"

Razar looked up in surprise when he and the others had to stop for…a little yellow flower in the road? And the gorillas were GUARDING the flower?!

"You've gotta be kiddin' me," one of the ravens muttered.

"Gorzan, um…what are you doing?" Razar was the first to finally ask.

"Flower here made her home in the road, but it's dangerous here, so I'm protecting her," Gorzan replied.

"Then why don't you just move it—like a smart person would?" Razar questioned with a cocked eyebrow, as he crossed his arms.

"No, I can't do that, Razar Dude! This road is Flower's home, and we can't just take her away from her own home!" Gorzan protested while standing over 'Flower'.

…

"Wow…you gorillas really ARE pathetic. Listen, hippy, I've already been through a lot lately, and I really don't wanna have to go through your flower-protection bullshit, so move outta my way, monkey!" Razar snapped while poking his hook at Gorzan's chest…but he seemed to forget that he was talking to a GORILLA!

But he was soon reminded when Gorzan straightened his back, towering over Razar, as he huffed and his nostrils flared with anger.

"I'm not a monkey, Dude—I'm a gorilla," Gorzan growled deeply, as he bared his huge canines, but Razar wasn't intimidated in the least.

"You wanna mess with me, Flower Boy?!"

Before Gorzan knew it, he felt a burning pain on the left side of his face; the stinging came from Razar when suddenly struck Gorzan's left eye with his hook.

Gorzan had been left alone to watch Flower, so there was no one around to come to his aid, as the said gorilla lay huffing on the found, holding his hand over his left eye.

None of the other ravens wanted a part of this, so they all immediately high-tailed it while taking the cart and turning it around…but Razar stayed and glared down at Gorzan. But Gorzan soon looked up at Razar, as he finally removed his hand, revealing a deep scratch over Gorzan's left eye, and blood dripped down his face.

Moments went by, and the glaring between the bird and gorilla only remained completely silent, but once Razar had figured he'd stayed long enough, he opened his wings and took off, but not without Gorzan letting out one last angry roar at him that echoed throughout the forest, as the raven disappeared above the treetops.

* * *

Laval rode his Speedor all the way out to the crocodile's dark and murky swamp home alone, so that the young lion could finally return the crocs' Chi in peace, and the crocodile jaw-shaped entrance to the crocs' fort was mostly visible across the swamp with the green mist.

"Cragger?! Cragger!" Laval called, but the crocs were confused at to why Laval was at their front door, especially after he took their Chi.

"King Cragger, Sir! Laval is calling for you!" a crocodile guard shouted, as he sprinted into the throne room, where Cragger sat in his throne and Crooler stood beside him.

"Laval? What's he doing here?" Cragger demanded an answer.

"He says he wants to return our Chi to us."

"What?!" Cragger exclaimed with shock.

"Relax, Brother. Time for your plan's fail safe," Crooler whispered in reassurance, making Cragger grin.

With that, Cragger and Crooler left the castle, and they dove into the water and swam towards Laval. Once they reached the shore and jumped up right before Laval, they were determined to trick the lion.

"What do you want, Laval?" Crooler growled.

"I came to say sorry…I-I realized that I was unfair to you crocs, and…I want to give you back your rightful earnings of Chi. So, here," Laval said with sympathy, as he then tried to give them Cragger's satchel of Chi Orbs.

Crooler and Cragger exchanged surprised and worried glances; they couldn't let their subjects know that Laval was being sincere, so they might really have to launch their fail safe.

"Laval, you should know that if you give me that Chi, I WILL use it to destroy all that you love," Cragger pointed out with a with growl, as his eyes suddenly flashed a red glow again.

"W-what…what are you talking about?" Laval chuckled with doubt.

"You need to know that I'll never show you mercy—and you can start by giving me the one thing that'll make me the monster I'm meant to be—Chi," Cragger replied with an evil grin.

As this conversation was going on, all of the other crocs were trying to listen and watch from the other side of the swamp.

"Are you serious, Cragger? And just when I thought I could be nice to you?" Laval asked with anger.

"I'm DEAD serious, Laval," Cragger stated firmly, and then he raised his voice so that his crocs were sure to hear this, "so, are you going to give me that Chi or not?!"

"No! You'll NEVER get any Chi for as long as I live!" Laval snapped while flinging the satchel strap over his shoulder.

This is just what Cragger and Crooler wanted; they had successfully tricked Laval into admitting never giving the crocodiles any Chi, and because of that, all of the crocs were now raging. And it wasn't long until Laval realized his mistake when all of the other crocodiles started diving into the water to get to him.

"Whoops," Laval whimpered with realization, and he then sprinted for his Speedor.

This all resulted in a high-speed chase with the crocs chasing Laval with their own Speedorz and tanks, and they were rapidly catching up to him…and Laval had to make a quick decision as to how he was going to end this.

So, when he figured it out, Laval made a sharp turn; he had to get out of the jungle.

* * *

The wolves needed to hurry, but the one wolf that needed to hurry the most was the alpha male, Worriz; a very important event was fast approaching for the wolves, and that's why he was helping to escort a few wolves pulling a large cart of materials that were perfect for building a heavy artillery fence…but like the ravens, the wolves were suddenly stopped by not a fork, but a flower in the road.

"Stop, Wolf Dudes! You almost crushed Little Flower!" Gorzan called while leaping down from the tree limb he was watching Flower from; despite the new wound over his left eye, Gorzan seemed to have forgotten and brushed off what Razar did to him by now, and he was still determined to protect Flower.

Also like the ravens, the wolves were not happy about a pathetic gorilla guarding a stupid flower.

"Gorzan, I'm well aware that you gorillas refuse to break your 'protect the plants' protest, but I don't think you understand that there's a serious situation going on, and this road is the quickest way back to our camp, in which we need to get back to NOW," Worriz calmly explained and tried to keep his cool.

But right at that moment, Wilhurt, a black wolf and Worriz's second in command, came sprinting passed Gorzan, and was now huffing in front of Worriz.

"Worriz…Sir…it's Windra…she's already lost it," Wilhurt informed between breaths, and Worriz gasped with worry.

"Listen Gorzan, we need ta get passed you RIGHT NOW. If we don't get back home to build this fence, everyone will be in danger," Worriz growled, starting to lose his temper.

"What? Danger? It won't hurt Flower, will it?" Gorzan questioned with fear.

"I swear to the Mother Tooth…don't you get it?! You gorillas are literally the ONLY animals that will EVER care this much about a pathetic plant! And you can beat your chest as much as you want, but since I have more pressing matters to attend to, I don't care! Now, let's move!" Worriz firmly called out to the other wolves, and they wasted no time in pulling the cart around Gorzan.

At least they didn't crush the flower, in which Gorzan was happy about that; what he WASN'T happy about was that they just walked all over the road…which was Flower's home.

Maybe G'Loona was right; perhaps he should carefully remove Flower, and move her to a sunny hill next to their gorilla village.

* * *

Laval had driven all the way out to The Fangs, with the crocs still hot on his.

Once the crocs had Laval backed up against the ledge and surrounded him, they were sure he was going to surrender. But the more the crocs cornered him, the further Laval stepped out on the edge, and he held the satchel of the crocs' Chi Orbs over the edge of the same deep gorge that Cragger and Crooler's parents fell into.

"There's only two ways to go about this, Laval; you can either GIVE us the Chi, or you can plummet WITH it—either way, you're going to die," Cragger explained while grinning and slowly approaching the lion.

But Laval wasn't playing any games.

"Oops…guess I got butter claws today," Laval laughed sarcastically while purposely dropping the satchel into the gorge

This infuriated the crocs even more…and that's JUST what Crooler and Cragger wanted.

"Big mistake, Laval," Cragger growled while lending a hand out to Crooler, who wasted no time in grabbing out a Chi Orb and handing it to her brother.

"What?! You still have Chi?!" Laval exclaimed with shock.

"Did you really think I'd give you ALL of our Chi?" Cragger asked with a grin, and he then placed the Chi Orb in his chest and Chi-ed up.

Laval was in trouble now, and he realized that now as an angry mob of crocodiles and one Chi-ed up croc king were all closing in on him, as he was running out of cliff to stand on.

Laval didn't know what to do, but Cragger did; the said crocodile king suddenly jumped up into the air, and he smashed his fist into the ground with all of the Chi power in him, resulting in the cliff to rumble and shake.

And it wasn't long before the cliff finally cracked and gave way underneath Laval, and the lion prince was soon plummeting down into the gorge.

Lucky for Laval, Eris and Raiva didn't ACTUALLY leave him on his own to deal with the crocs; they were actually following him the whole time, and it was a good thing they did because now, they had to dive bomb down into the gorge after Laval.

"Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Laval cheered as the girls grabbed him and tried to fly out of the gorge, but everyone knew that The Fangs tends to have a mind of its own; every time something or someone falls into the pits of The Fangs, it NEVER let's them go so easily, and it certainly didn't want to let the birds or the lion go free, as a powerful gust of wind was pushing down to prevent them from flying out.

"Eris…you still got that Chi?!" Raiva called over the wind.

"Yup! I never even go anywhere without a spare!" Eris shouted back, as she grabbed out two Chi orbs; one for her and one for Raiva.

The birds hastily placed the orbs into their chests, instantly creating a glorious blue aura around them both. And with all of that added power, they were finally able to beat the wind to fly themselves and Laval out of the gorge, and they landed on the other side of the gorge.

But as the crocs still stood on the other side, they watched with intense anger that Laval was not killed.

"Fear not, Brother—this war is not over yet," Crooler softly reassured.

"You're right, Crooler, it's NEVER over—not until I spill Laval's blood myself," Cragger growled evilly, his eyes flashing bright red.

And on the other side of the gorge, Laval, Eris and Raiva watched with worry as the crocodiles left.

"Man, you better hope your dad doesn't find out about this," Raiva pointed out with worry, as she and the others knew that throwing the crocs' Chi into the biggest gorge in The Fangs was WAY against the rules.

* * *

 **Stuff's goin' down. What are the wolves in a hurry for? What's happened to Windra? And how will Lagravis react when he finds out his son has broken the rules beyond repair?**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


End file.
